What am I saying – networking for strategic alliances doesn’t work? When I have been saying for years that that is the best possible way for small business owners to grow their business!
Let me put it another way – strategic alliances are the best way for small business owners to grow their business when they are done correctly.
And the best possible way to connect with people to create strategic alliances ins at a networking event or in your networking group. Unfortunately I regularly meet business owners who are networking regularly and have tried and tried to create strategic alliances with no success.
So you have met a potential alliance partner at a networking event – read on to find out the top 7 mistakes small business owners make when trying to create strategic alliances and how to avoid them.
No clear outcomes and objectives
Let’s start at the beginning – if you don’t know what you want to achieve then you are doomed to failure from the start – do you want to grow your list; improve conversions; reduce costs? You wouldn’t go on a journey without knowing where you wanted to end up would you? Before you even start thinking about creating strategic alliances be very clear on your business goals and objectives. Your alliance strategies must be aligned to your business objectives or you are wasting your time and money.
Not understanding the other party’s objectives
Don’t make assumptions about what the other party is looking for from an alliance. Just because you want to grow your list doesn’t mean they do too. Find out what the other party is looking for and make sure that what you are offering will help them to achieve it.
Unrealistic expectations
How many times have I seen someone ask for referrals from a potential alliance partner when the other person has only just met them and has no idea of the quality of what they offer. It’s not going to happen is it? While referrals are the strategic alliance option that many business owners are most familiar with they are really the hardest to implement and should be among the last in your arsenal of options. Build the relationship with other safer types of alliance strategies first, try out each others products or services, get to know each other and become confident in referring the other person.
Not nurturing the relationship
Sometimes the time for an alliance with a particular person is just not right – perhaps you can’t find a way of meeting both your objectives at that time. Stay in touch, nurture and develop the relationship, be constantly on the look out for ways to help the other person. Then when the time is right all the hard work will have been done and the other party will be open and receptive to your approach.
No SMART action plan
“We got together and had a coffee – I gave her some of my brochures to hand out; but nothing happened” Giving someone your brochures to hand out and then walking away and expecting results is NOT a strategic alliance.
Never leave a cup of coffee or a meeting without an agreed action plan and a next step. How, when and to whom will the brochures be handed out? What is the irresistible offer that will make the people receiving the brochures take action? How and when will you get together to evaluate? What’s in it for the other person? If you don’t know the answers to ALL of those questions then you don’t have a strategic alliance and you might as well have put the brochures in the bin!
Not evaluating and learning from mistakes
So you have implemented an alliance strategy – what worked and what didn’t? What could you do differently next time to make it work better? Did both parties achieve their objectives? If not why not and how can that be remedied? Nothing is a mistake unless you don’t learn from it.
Not repeating what works
If something works well – do it again! This might be a good time to look at an example of an alliance strategy that worked.
In this case a bookstore wanted to do a “stand out from the crowd” Mother’s Day promotion. They approached a jeweller in their local Network who was suffering from lack of passing traffic and asked him to donate 1,999 unset cubic zirconia and one unset diamond of a similar size. (They promised to pay for the stones if the jeweller didn’t recoup the cost in increased sales).
The bookshop then ran a competition leading up to Mother’s day. They put all of the stones in a bowl and for every purchase over $30.00 each customer could choose a stone from the bowl – one lucky person would get the diamond.
Of course to find out whether they had the diamond or just one of the cubic zirconia they had to go and visit the jeweller in the little back alley!
Over the course of the promotion the bookstore increased their average dollar sale from $18.95 –$ 34.95. The jeweller’s business increased by 300% in the first week and he sold the real diamond mounted in a $2800 brooch. Definitely a WIN WIN.
Let’s hope they did it again EVERY Mother’s Day!
If you avoid these top seven mistakes networking and strategic alliances will become your primary marketing and business development strategy and your business will boom. We guarantee it.
